LABOUR'S shadow Scotland minister says Inverclyde 'should be building cruise ships and not just welcoming them'.

Paul Sweeney MP believes the area is more than capable of competing with yards across Europe for a slice of the multi-billion pound construction industry to complement the booming freight and passengers business at Greenock's Ocean Terminal.

The former shipyard worker says Inchgreen would be the perfect location and could mirror the successful Meyer Werft operation in Germany with the help of public and private funding.

Mr Sweeney believes an ambitious redevelopment of the UK's largest mainland dry dock - owned by Peel Ports - is a viable option and would assist with the growth of Ferguson Marine in Port Glasgow, which is limited to building vessels of around 100-metres in length.

He told the Telegraph: "One thing you've got is the opportunity to expand.

"Inchgreen essentially could be a compact, integrated commercial shipyard on the same scale as Meyer Werft in Germany, which builds cruise ships every year.

"So rather than just being pleased that cruise ships dock at the Ocean Terminal, we should be aspiring to build cruise ships at Inchgreen Dry Dock and in Port Glasgow.

"That's certainly something Ferguson's owner Jim McColl was excited by, the prospect of constructing superyachts and potentially even scaling up to something the size of cruise ships.

"There's billions of pounds of orders around and 90 per cent of the world's cruise ships are built in European shipyards, so it's not like it's a cost issue.

"It's actually cheaper to build them in the UK it's just we haven't capitalised."

The Glasgow MP was responding to comments from Inverclyde SNP counterpart Ronnie Cowan, who accused him of 'talking down' Ferguson's, of a 'lack of faith in a Scottish yard' and 'commitment' to the area.

But the shadow Scotland minister, who helped save the Port yard from administration four years ago while working with Scottish Enterprise, says he is fully behind the Newark site - and Inverclyde as a whole.

On Wednesday, Mr Sweeney's boss Jeremy Corbyn also spoke of Inverclyde's 'massive potential' and how a Labour government under his leadership would give the area the necessary financial support towards major re-industrialisation via the party's proposed £20 billion Scottish investment bank.

Ferguson's chief Mr McColl has made attempts to tap into Inchgreen but owners Peel Ports, which also controls Cammell Laird shipyard in Merseyside, have refused to give up the asset to a rival shipbuilder.

Mr Sweeney said: "It has a rebuild value of £200m so you've already got a £200m asset sitting there that can be utilised.

"Put a covered shed on top of it, build associated fabrication facilities next to it and you've got a ready-to-go shipyard that can compete with others in Europe that build cruise liners.

"That's what the vision for Inverclyde shipbuilding ought to be - you're talking about a one billion pound investment, that's the scale needed.

"The German government have loaned two billion Euros to Meyer Werft over the last 20 years to build their yard, why aren't we doing something of similar ambition?".